Tales Of Xillia 3: Ren's Side
by GreenSonic
Summary: Our first new protagonist, Ren Winston, is a young assassin who ends up in a job that would change his life. He meets Celus, a girl who's very secretive. And when his best friend holds all the cards, he gets thrown into a game with growing stakes.
1. Prolouge: The Fated Girl

"Hello my lord. It's a pleasure to see you once more." Said a figure. He seemed to be wearing a purple medieval style robe. His hair was dark purple, and he had large black wings. He was bowing down. He was a young boy, around 10.

"What is it Shadow? Can't you go bother someone else? I have no need for your silly games." The room they were in was a quiet study, where someone else was reading.

"Yes Lord Maxwell. I'll leave straight away. Maybe someone else would take some time to play with me." He got up and left. His face quite tan, and had two black marks across his cheeks. His eyes were a light purple.

"That boy always gives me trouble." Said the one in the chair. She was revealed to be a young woman, with a soft smile on her face.

* * *

A young man was walking down the street. He had light neon green hair, which very spiky. He had on a a black stealth suit with his mask off, black combat boots, and a sword in a baldric over his shoulder. He didn't wear it across his body, rather over the shoulder, while gripping the baldric.

"Jude! Can't you hurry up?" It was a 13 year old girl, had a young man with her, who was carrying some bags.

"Elle! Just slow down. These are pretty heavy!" He chased after her, running into the assassin.

"Sorry!" The man, apparently called Jude, looked up at the man. Jude had on a crimson t-shirt and blue jeans, with black boots. He had black wire frame glasses.

"Ren Winston." He shook Jude's hand.

"Jude Mathis. Nice to meet you. Now Elle, wait up!" Jude dashed off after the girl. Ren just kept walking along, minding his own business. He knew there had to be some clients around here.

"Ugh! Why isn't there anything to work on? I could always go to him, but he gives out the tough jobs. I'll go if I need to." Ren did not want to work with him. While Clyde was good as a friend and ally, he gave extremely difficult jobs, or monster hunting. He wasn't too good with monster hunting, although he was capable of it. He preferred the tough assassination jobs. He pulled out his GTCS. He called Clyde.

"Hey Clyde. Got any jobs for me?" He asked.

"Oh, hi Ren. Yep! We have a job for you. I'll send you the info." He sent him the information. He would be protecting a girl for three months. He was to met up with her at the train station. Ren started heading to the station. He was not a body guard. But, it payed well. And that was all that mattered. 1,000,000 gald was a fair price.

Ren arrived at the station. There, Jude and Elle were there.

"Oh hey." Ren waved at Jude.

"Hi Ren!" Jude waved back.

"Who's this?" Elle asked.

"Ren Winston." Ren introduced himself with a bow.

"Elle Mel Marta." Elle introduced herself out of tradition.

"I'm here to meet up with a girl. It isn't you, is it?" He asked Elle.

"Nope. You must be looking for someone else." she told him.

"Ah, I see." Into the station, ran a girl. She was wearing a white denim jacket with a black t-shirt. She had on black skinny jeans, black gloves, and dark brown boots. She looked around 14.

"Where's this Ren guy?" She thought out loud.

"Over here!" He waved to her.

"Oh. Hi. I'm Celus." She introduced herself, looking at the people he was with.

"That was certainly convenient." Elle commented.

"You've got that right." Jude added.

Into the station after Celus, ran a group of soldiers.

"Celus! Return what you stole, freak!" They pointed there guns at her.

"I think not." She held up her arm. The soldiers had strange symbols appear over there head. The symbols burst out a ray of darkness, melting them in one hit.

"What the hell? How can she do that?" Jude was surprised by seeing a girl do an arte like that. He'd heard of that type of arte before. It was called a death arte. No one had ever preformed them, except in legends.

"Instant death." Ren stated. Instant death. He'd heard rumors someone was able to instantly kill anyone, leaving no trace of the body. Could this girl be the one? No, that was impossible, right?

"Alright, let's go." Celus boarded the train, dragging Ren in with her. Elle was in shock, just standing there, scared. Jude was a bit frightened himself. But they needed to board this train. He grabbed her hand, and together they boarded the train.

"Celus, how can you do that?" Elle asked her.

"It's not that hard really. I can't really explain it, but it's like this. All I have to do is let my mind be filled with hatred, and it just sorta, happens." She explained.

"A death arte. But that is certainly a strange ability." Jude said.

"So that's what it's called? Huh. I think it might have something to do with this." She rolled up her right sleeve, revealing a metal prosthetic arm. It had a great spirit fossil in it. Ren got wide eyed for a second, but didn't say anything. She rolled down her sleeve.

"I woke up with that arm, having no idea how I got it. That was five years ago." She told them.

"Can I see your arm for a second?" Jude asked. With some reluctance, she showed him.

"This isn't a normal prosthetic, that's for sure." Was all Jude said, before she rolled her sleeve back down.

"What you did back there. It was like something a villain would do." Elle said, her voice quivering

"I know. Because I'm no hero." Celus replied.


	2. Chapter 1: The Living Corpse

**Alright. Just a quick thing. Whenever I put in a line, either means a scene change or a skit.**

* * *

"Well well. You hardly ever stop by." Maxwell said, who someone could not be seen.

"Yeah. Well, I have my duties. You should know how busy I am." The male voice said.

"Yes, I am well aware of them. But still, you can't free up any time?" She asked him.

"I'm sorry Milla! I'm a busy man. I'll see what I can do. Who knows? I may even visit her! She'd be pretty surprised to see me though."

"I'll say. Now, why are you here?" Maxwell inquired of the male spirit.

"Nothing. Just wanted to see how you were doing. Anyway, I'm gonna go relax. See you around!" He said. Some footsteps were heard, then a door opening and closing.

"The same as ever it seems." She whispered in a gentle tone. She chuckled.

* * *

The train pulled into the station at Trigleph. The group got off. Celus left the station, bypassing security. The others went through security like normal people and left the station.

"So, Celes. Do you mind if I take you to the lab? I have a few tests I would like to preform on you." He told her.

"Yeah. I don't mind. Not like I have much to do." She complied with Jude. Ren started going through Trigleph.

"Hey. Have you have you heard about what has been going on with Spirius?" Ren asked, wanting to spark up a conversation.

"Yeah. I heard they've appointed a new leader. The last one was temporary after Bisley's death. He never shows himself. He has been hidden ever since he got the position. No one has ever seen him. Even his name is classified. They call him 'The Executioner.'" Jude explained.

"So that's what the rumors are, huh?" He said to himself. Clyde was certainly making a name for himself. Literally.

"Why are you asking about that?" Jude inquired.

"No reason. Just curious." Ren made up the excuse on the spot.

They, after a bit of wandering and some directions from Jude, made it to the lab.

"Alright now Celus. Do you mind if I first just do a bit of medical examination?" He asked her.

"Yeah." She reluctantly went with Jude. He examined her, while she sat there rigid.

"Um, Celus. This makes no sense."

"What doesn't?" She asked Jude.

"Your heart's not beating. You aren't breathing either. But your brain function is perfectly normal. I also noticed something else off. You don't have a mana lobe. So you shouldn't even be able to do a spirit arte. But there is an explanation to how you can. You have neural implants. I think they act like an artificial mana lobe. Doesn't explain how you're alive though." This was impossible. But it was happening. He had his results to prove so. He walked out, and took Ren aside. He told him what he'd told Celes. He didn't want Elle to know this. He was protective of the girl.

Ren knew they needed to take her to Clyde. Maybe he'd be able to shed some light on the matter. "Come on Celus. Let's get going."

"Alright." Her and Ren left the building. Jude stayed inside, going into the back room. Elle, followed them as soon as he had left.

"Hey! Can I go with you? I can fight to, so don't worry." She told them. She wanted an adventure. And this was the way to get it.

"Okay, sure. Just as long as you don't get the way." He told her.

"Hey! I'm not gonna get in the way! If anything, I'll be beneficial to your group." Elle told them.

"Great. Then let's get going." On the way, who was to show up but some Reize Maxian soldiers. They attacked, and Elle joined in the battle, pulling out dual swords. Celus pulled out some ninja stars. She engulfed them in fire, and she threw them at the soldiers.

Elle attacked a soldier with her swords.

"Tiger Blade!" She shouted. She though it was normal to shout out the name of the attack she used.

"Light sword!" Ren shouted with his attack. They fought and killed all of the soldiers. They continued walking.

* * *

"Hey Elle."

"What is it Ren?" Elle asked.

"I'm just wondering. I've not seen that particular type of style for those swords you use. Where did you learn it?" He asked her.

"Oh. I learned it from an old book I found in the apartment of an old friend. I suspect it's probably a family heirloom. After all, the only ones I have ever seen use that particular style was them." She explained to Ren.

"Ah, I see. Who's book was it?"

She frowned at his statement. Did she not want to talk about it?

"Something wrong?" Ren said.

"It's about the man who had this book. He's dead. He died five years ago." She whispered.

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's alright. I'm over it now." She smiled. She really had gotten over it. It just wasn't something she liked talking about.

* * *

"What's up Celus?"

"Elle, don't bother me. Can't you see I'm trying to write here?" Celus said.

"What are you trying to write Celus?" Elle slyly asked, an evil smiled coming over her face. She tried to look at the little book Celus was writing in.

"Is it a diary?" Ren added, also trying to get a peak

"No! Now both of you, GO AWAY AND DON'T BOTHER ME!" She closed the book and stormed off.

"What's up with her?" Ren asked.

"I dunno." Elle said, shrugging.

"Maybe it is her diary." Ren mumbled.


	3. Chapter 2: The Many Secret's of Clyde

**Hey guys. This is just gonna be a short chapter. Been pressed for time recently. Good news. Will be posting a new chapter of Drakengard 3 the weird sitcom later this week, so look forward to that. So anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

The group walked into Spirius and into the elevator. The intercom in the elevator turned on.

"Meet me on the 21st floor." Clyde's voice said. They did. Clyde was there, the boy of 16 had a large smile on his face. He had on black slacks, a black double-breasted vest, and a white dress shirt. He was standing in front of a series of labelled doors.

"This is what I want to show you. We can get to your questions later." As per usual, Clyde was a step ahead of them. He lead them into a room, where a large mech soot. However, this wasn't a normal mech. It was more humanoid, smaller and more agil. It was white, and had a sword in it's hand.

"My newest project. It's a combat mech. However, it is sentient. You will be the ones to test out it's reactions to people." Clyde pushed the girls into the chamber and locked the door. He powered it on, and it sprang to life.

"What, where am I?" It asked The voice was male.

"It can talk?" Elle asked.

"Well of course I can talk." He looked down at his hands. He jumped up.

"What the?" He said.

"This is bad. He isn't supposed to react like this." Clyde said, busily typing away. Ren was just horrified.

"I'm awesome like this! This is great!"He exclaimed.

"Weirdo." Elle muttered. Ren just watched them, still horrified.

"Well anyway, nice to meet you. I'm a robot."

"Indeed you are." Celus commented sarcastically. Clyde went and dragged Elle and Celus out of the room.

"Thanks for helping me out with the tests. Now, ask away!" Clyde said.

"What do you know about Celus?" Ren asked, mad.

"Well, a lot of things. I don't exactly want to tell them all though. So what have you learned so far?"

"We had her checked out physically." Ren informed Clyde.

"Okay, good. Well, I can at least give a bit of clearance. Her strange abilities are indeed because of the arm. I'm not gonna reveal how exactly, but it's due to spirits. It's power source isn't a spirit fossil. That's only what they use to get it to start up. It's actual power comes from using it's abilities. It's able to drain energy from opponents, and use that to keep you functioning."

"So it leeches the life away from other people?" Celus asked.

"Exactly Celus." He confirmed.

"That's like the most evil sounding power in the world." Elle commented,

"Anyway, I have a gift for you. Well, for Ms. Mel Marta mostly." Clyde smirked. "Just give me a second."

He left the room. After a few minutes, he brought in someone with him. It was a man with orange hair and glasses.

"N-n-no way! How can he be here? He's supposed to be dead?" Elle asked, her face overcome with the same horrified look Ren had had. Julius looked the same as he had five years ago

"This is Julius Kresnik. He'll be working with explained.

"Pleasure to meet you." Julius said, extending his hand to Ren.

"Ren, that guy is a dead guy! How can you be so calm?" Elle asked.

"Living, dead. Doesn't matter. A person's a person after all." He smiled. Clyde had been known to pull off the impossible. He certainly couldn't revive the dead though. He shook Julius's hand.

"Elle. How much time has passed since I last saw you?" Julius asked.

"Five years." She told him

"Ah. It seems you've grown into a nice young woman." He said patting her on the head. She didn't remember Julius being like this to her. Although he did do this with Ludger. It had honestly been annoying to watch back then, but now it seemed kinda charming.

"Well anyway, nice to meet you Julius!" Ren said, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess it's nice to see you." Elle mumbled.

"Alright. Let's get going." Ren left the building. This had definitely been a weird day.


	4. Chapter 3: Subjugation Complete

It was a library. Clyde was busily studying his books, sipping tea.

"Hi Vera." Clyde said, taking a sip.

"Hello there, Mister Raspur." Vera replied.

"What are you here for?"

"Tell me sir. Do you really think it was a good idea to entrust Julius to Ren?"

"Yes. Ren can be trusted. I've known him for a long time. He's my most useful tool, definitely." He took another sip.

"Just tell me your orders for him. I'll make sure they're delivered."

"Good. I have _just_ the thing prepared for my dear, dear friend and his merry band of followers."

* * *

"Grr, that Clyde dude really pisses me off! I mean, why's he gotta be so secretive about everything? He probably knows all the info we need too." Celus complained.

"He's always been like this. The type to play games like this." It was true. Clyde had always been the type to blackmail or manipulate people into doing things for him. It was honestly a big pain to deal with.

"How meet Clyde in the first place Ren?" Julius questioned.

"We grew up together. We're almost like brothers, actually." Ren's thoughts went to those of his childhood friends. The time he'd spent alone with his allies. Not just him and Clyde, there were the other two as well. Despite being surrounded by friends, all of them had their own mental isolation. Each, in there own way, was completely alone.

"Wow. That's pretty cool. I wish I could remember my past. I might have had some friends like that too." Celus said.

"Yeah..." Ren muttered, now lost in thought.

Ren got a call waking him from his deep pondering, which he immediately answered.

"It's Vera. I work for Clyde. He wants you to go to Marksburg, and track down a criminal that infiltrated us."

"Ah, got it. We'll get going right away." Ren said, hanging up.

"Marksburg, huh? Come on Ren! Let's go!" Elle said.

"Yes. It would be best we got with utmost haste." Julius suggested.

"Yeah yeah. I know." Ren said, rather irritated.

* * *

Ren's group arrived at Marksburg. He sighed.

"Wow, Clyde sure gave us _a lot_ of clues on where to find this spy." Ren commented sarcastically.

"You've got that right." Elle muttered.

"We just have to work with what we got." Julius told them.

"Right. It's best to work with what we have rather than just stand around complaining." Ren said.

"I guess you're right. Come on, let's get going." Celus agreed, Ren took off, them keeping pace.

* * *

"Geez, it's so annoying to have to search like this!" Celus complained.

"What, did you expect an opponent to just fall into our laps?" Ren shot her a glance.

"No. I just didn't think it would require a search party." She muttered.

"You think this is hard? Please. I've gone through much worse." She said.

"Well excuse me for not being used to hardships!" Celus shouted at Elle.

"No need to get worked up about it. Calm down." Julius advised, trying to stop a fight.

"Fine. But I will get you back for this."

* * *

Suddenly, someone shot at Ren. He barley noticed it in time and managed to dodge. It was a young man, around the same age as Ren, dressed in a ninja mask blue shirt with a belt and gun holsters, and black jeans. He carried with him two handguns and a sniper rifle. He pointed the handguns at Ren.

"Is this our target?" Ren asked. The man said nothing, rather just stared silently.

"Um, hello?" Celus asked. The guy shot at Celus, her getting a hit a few times, before pulling out a flash bomb, using it, and running away.

"That's definitely our target. But question is, why would he confront us if he could have easily attacked us without being seen from the shadows?" Ren asked.

"Do you think I know the answer?" Celus retorted.

"I was just posing a question was all."

"Heh. You two argue like Jude and Leia." Elle commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" They shouted at Elle in perfect sync. Julius chuckled.

"Anyway, we should pursue our target." Julius said.

"Right." Ren and team dashed off in the direction they thought he met.

* * *

"Who do you think that guy was?" Celus asked.

"I dunno. if he had been able to avoid Spirius so we would have to be sent in, he's probably pretty skilled." Ren observed.

"For now, we should focus on a way to subdue him." Julius said.

"Hmmm. Maybe Celus could kill him." Ren thought out loud.

"Maybe." She said.

Ren sighed.

"Looks like we'll just have to wait for him to attack us again. Because I doubt we can find him on our own." Ren advised.

* * *

After another period of time, they're attacker returned. This time, he decided to talk.

"You, puppet of Spirius and Clyde Raspur, you shall die by my hand!" He shouted, shooting. Everyone pulled out their weapons.

"Hey, what's your problem!" Ren asked, charging at him.

"Clyde is a master manipulator. He'll make you his tool, and throw you away when he doesn't need you." Their attacker told them, assualting them with his guns. Ren and Elle ran in at him. Julius joined them, while Celus stayed back.

"You're **all fools**!" As they attacked him, he managed to slip away, not without getting hit by Ren first.

"Damn, he's fast." Ren sighed. If his opponent moved this quickly, he would end up relying on what he'd been hiding. Elle was unphased by her opponents speed. She looked at Julius and nodded. The two of them charged in for a pincer attack. Their attacker fled, but he was backed into a corner. Ren sighed a sigh of up to him and put his sword the man's neck. He took off his mask. He recognized him immediately.

"Well well. If it ain't Quinn. Tell me, why did you infiltrate Spirius?" Ren asked, looking his old friend in the eye. Quinn's couldn't make eye contact, as per usual. His eyes glinted with madness.

"I didn't infiltrate Spirius." He said.

"You're lying! Now, tell me NOW!" Ren ordered.

"Fine fine. I left them because I couldn't stand what they were doing. It's too hard for me to explain. Clyde... he's lost his humanity. He doesn't feel anything anymore." Quinn explained. Ren took the sword away and paced in front of him.

"So, you're letting me free?" Quinn looked at them rather doubtfully. That's when his wrists were shoved together and he was handcuffed.

"'Fraid not." Julius, who had arrested him, stated.

"Nice one Julius." Ren said.

* * *

Ren brought Quinn in to Clyde.

"You're a bad boy Quinn. Running away before we even start." Clyde scolded him, having two of his agents pull him away behind a locked door.

"No PLEASE! Ren, you don't know what he'll do to me! It's liek torture! Don't let him get-" he was cut off as the door slammed behind him. They all stood their, completely unaffected, on the outside at least, by Quinn's last desperate plea.

"Good job you guys. You brought the traitor in for me." Clyde said with the grin he normally wore in public on his face. With it on his face now though, he looked almost sadistic.

"Clyde... Is this a game? Why did you send me to track him down. Couldn't you have just as easily sent someone else?" Ren questioned.

"You were the best man for the job. That's all."

'You're despicable Clyde."

"i know. But I don't have to be nice to run a company."


	5. Elle Chapter 1: A Semi-normal day

**Because someone PMed me about this wanting to know Ren's theme, here it is.**

** /watch?v=bZ6WTEPcFGc**

**Thank me later.**

* * *

Ren was alone with Quinn. He had been called in for the interrogation. Quinn sat their, regarding him with insane eyes. Every time Ren's gaze feel directly on his old friend, he would retreat into his shell.

"Why did you betray Spirius?" He questioned.

"Ren... what have you been up to lately?" He tried to divert Ren away.

"I see right through that. Now, answer me!"

"As I explained earlier. I couldn't put up with their practices."

"And what are these "practices?""

"Human experiments." Quinn stated.

"I know about those. We both do. What was it _really_?"

"I ran away. Didn't want them messing with me."

"You haven't changed a bit. Still a coward. We've all lost things, you know that. And you are never willing to sacrifice anything else."

"Yeah. Because I have things I want to protect. Things I need to change. You're too stubborn to see past that."

"What? Are you talking about your brother? It's nothing compared to what I lost. Who Clyde lost. Clyde is the rightful CEO of Spirius. It's his birth right. He sacrificed everything to get here. He lost his family, but he brought them back. I couldn't reclaim that."

"It doesn't matter what we lost. I'm not going to lose anything else."

"If that's how you're going to be, then I'll just leave you here." Ren walked out of the room and locked the door. He had no business with someone such as him. He had his honor to keep. But that wasn't his only reason for leaving...

* * *

Ren reunited with the group. His expression looked like he was holding back tears. _'What have we stooped to? How far down have we fallen?' _To get his mind off the subject, he diverted his to the people he often heard Clyde speaking of in his ramblings.

"Ren, what did he say?" Elle asked.

"Enough to make me feel we've lost him."

"Oh, I see..."

"It just, makes me upset to see what's become of him, you know?"

"Yeah. I had a similar experience five years ago. I was too young to fully understand back then but, now things are different. I know the weight of our actions. Just how much we sacrificed."

"Elle. I am glad to see you're getting over that. It must have been a traumatizing experience." Julius commented.

"No. It wasn't that bad. Not nearly enough to be traumatizing." Elle blushed and turned away.

"Well, whatever happened to you, I don't care. All that matters is that you didn't let it get to you. And that's all that matters."

"I wouldn't say that's _all _that mattered. It was pretty important to the it after all."

"Oh. Well, I'm not gonna dive into your personal business. So anyway Elle, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Oh, nothing really. Oh, I know! How about we go get ice cream?" She looked up at Ren.

"Sounds like a plan. Do you know any good places?" Ren looked down at her. He'd never had time for ice cream. Except for his carefree days, he had never been interested in that type of thing.

"Yeah. I have one place I go to all the time. Jude takes me there sometimes, although I mostly go with a few friends."

"Well, I'd be happy to take you. I am a responsible adult after all."

"Responsible adult? Yeah right."

"Well, let's get going. No point in just waiting around."

"Lead the way then." Elle nodded and walked off. He walked with her. Julius and Celus tagged along as well. They all walked up to the counter.

"Take your pick, it's on me." He told them.

"Chocolate please." Elle told the person at the counter.

"Pineapple for me." Celus said.

"I'll have a vanilla." Julius said.

"And I'll take vanilla and chocolate." Ren said.

They got their ice cream and licked it as they walked along.

"Mmm, this is pretty good Elle." Celus told her.

"Thanks." She replied.

"This is actually pretty good." Ren said, licking his ice cream.

"So you were doubting me Ren?"

"No. I just didn't think it would be _this_ good."

"So you were doubting me?"

"Well, yeah. Sorry."

"Anyway Elle, how did you find this place?" Julius asked her.

"Just one time when Elize was over and we went to get ice cream." Elle explained.

"I see. Your still keeping up with your old friends?"

"Yeah. Did you think I would just abandon them after our journey was over?" She eyed him.

"Possibly." Elle chuckled at Julius's statement.

"You know, you guys aren't the weirdest people I've met." She told them.

"I'll take that, as a compliment." Ren exclaimed. The group laughed, happy to have hand a semi-normal day.


End file.
